CHAPTER VIII
IN LONDON TOWN
THE bells were ringing out the noon hour when the Corners arrived inLondon, yet it seemed a quiet and dignified place after Paris. MissHelen had chosen a neat little hotel for their stopping-place to whichthey drove directly. The party had amused themselves during the journeyfrom Canterbury by choosing what they most wanted to see. Mrs. Cornerselected Westminster Abbey, Nan the National Gallery, Jo the BritishMuseum, Mary Lee the Zoo, Jack the Tower, and Jean Kensington Gardens.
"Gracious! but there is a lot to see," Jo remarked as she turned overthe leaves of a copy of Baedeker's London. "It would take weeks to doit all, and I suppose the longer you stay the more you find to see;that's the way it generally is."
"It is particularly so with London," Miss Helen acknowledged. "We shallhave time only to skim off the cream this trip, but we can see the mostimportant things."
It was Jo, perhaps, who was most impressed by Westminster Abbey. Manyof the things and places in Europe were but words to her for she had"scrambled up" as she said, and the time she had passed at Miss Barnes'school had been her only opportunity for real culture, but she was sobright and wide-awake, so eager to absorb information that Miss Helencongratulated herself that she had asked the Western girl to join theparty.
"I can't realize it," whispered Jo, after standing a few moments inmute awe before the monuments in the Poet's Corner. "Of course I knewthere was a Westminster Abbey, but I hadn't an idea what it was like.Now, I shall never forget. It seems a stupendous thought that all thisgreat number of celebrities should be buried here, and that you havethem all in a bunch before you, so to speak. I feel now as if they hadreally lived and not as if they were names at the end of poems."
The visit to the Abbey took up most of the morning, but as Mrs. Cornerwas tired, and the twins soon wearied of looking at pictures, it wasdecided that Miss Helen should take the three elder girls only to theNational Gallery while the others returned to the hotel.
Nan would fain have gone at once to the pictures and could scarcelybe dragged away to the nearest restaurant for a hasty lunch. Bathbuns and crumpets were ordered, the girls saying that these thingswere so often mentioned in stories of English life, but when Jo askedfor lemonade she was told there was none, but she could have a "lemonsquash" which proved to be the same thing. "I shall soon catch on tothe Englishisms," said Jo, "and you will hear me asking for a grilledbone and skittles and winkles with a lot of other queer things before Ileave here."
"I like the National Gallery much better than the Louvre," decided Nan,as, foot-weary, Miss Helen declared they must not try to see more thatday.
"We can come back," she said, "for it is a remarkably choicecollection. There are so many of the best examples of the best artiststhat one gets an idea of nearly every school of painting through manyof the world's famous pictures here."
"I am going to begin a collection of photographs and things like thatfor a sort of History of Art," Nan decided. "It will be a lovely way tostudy, and there are so many good reproductions one can get."
"That is an excellent idea," agreed Miss Helen, "and I am sure MissBarnes would greatly approve of your spending some of your prize moneyin that way."
JO MANAGED TO GET NEXT TO THE DRIVER.]
"What shall you buy with the rest of it, Nan?" asked Jo.
"I haven't quite decided, but I think I shall spend it all in books andpictures. Don't you think, Aunt Helen, it would be nice to buy books atthe places associated with the authors? For example I could get a setof Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon, Wordsworth in Grasmere, Gray atStoke Poges, and so on. You see then they would serve a double purpose."
"I think it would be an admirable plan," said Miss Helen, "and justthe kind of thing you will enjoy, Nan. Don't spend more than half yourmoney in England, however, for you will see things in Germany and Italythat you will want, not to mention Paris."
"I think I will make my fullest collection of Rossetti, for you know hewas the subject of my theme that won the prize."
"That would be quite right and proper, and you will find some charmingpictures here."
"Don't you think we shall have time for the Portrait Gallery to-day?"asked Nan wistfully.
"Surely not to-day, dear. There is nothing more wearying than picturegalleries, delightful as they are. You will have mental indigestion ifyou try anything more. Perhaps you and I can slip off sometimes andcome here while the others are doing things we don't care so muchabout."
"I'd like to see the Zoo well enough, but I would much rather seepictures."
"Then we might let the rest go to the Zoo while you and I do picturesall day. There are the Wallace collection and the Tate Gallery still tosee."
"Oh, Aunt Helen, do you think we shall be able to see both as well asthe Portrait Gallery?"
"We can go to at least one of them, I think. They are some distanceapart so we cannot attempt them both in one day. To-morrow we havedecided to go to the Tower, and as we shall then not be so very farfrom St. Paul's we must see that. Perhaps day after to-morrow will giveus a chance for one or another of the galleries."
Nan gave her aunt's arm a squeeze; the two were walking ahead of MaryLee and Jo. Aunt Helen was always so ready to respond to Nan's desires,for they were great chums.
They waited for a 'bus which would take them to their hotel, allclambering on top that they might better see the life of the Londonstreets. Jo managed to get next to the driver and extracted a deal ofinformation at the expense of a threepenny tip. In consequence the waywas made so intensely interesting that they were carried beyond theirdestination, and walked back chattering like magpies.
They found Jean complacent at having tasted clotted cream, and Jack inthe dumps because she could not go out into the nearest square. "It isthe stupidest old place I ever saw," she complained. "They lock theirgates and won't let you in unless you have a key. At home and in Parisall the squares are free. Stingy old English! They keep their gardensall walled up, too, so you can't get so much as a peep at them. Theyare just the meanest people I ever saw."
"There are plenty of places that are free," Nan tried to console her bysaying.
"Where?" asked Jack.
"Oh, Hampstead Heath, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park," said Nan.
Jack whispered the names to herself as she stood looking out of thewindow. "Nan," she said presently, "won't you go with me to Hyde Parkor somewhere? It is horrid to stay in the house."
"Dear chickabiddy, I am so tired. I didn't realize how tired I was tillI reached home. I have been on my feet the entire day. Perhaps someother time we can go."
"Is it very far?" asked Jack.
"Not so very, but it is far for a tired body like me to go thereto-day."
Jack was silent a few moments. "London is an awfully big place, isn'tit?" she said presently.
"The biggest city in the world."
"Would you be afraid we'd get lost if we went alone?"
"Well, I don't know. I would carry a map, and if we did stray intounknown regions, I'd ask a bobby to set us right."
"What is a bobby?"
"A policeman. They have such nice, big, kind policemen here; they arealways so ready to help one."
Jack made no comment and presently left the room.
"Where is Jack?" asked Mrs. Corner as they were about to go to dinner.
No one knew. Nan had been the one who saw her last. "She wanted me togo to Hyde Park with her," she told her mother, "but I said I was tootired."
"Do you suppose the little monkey could have gone off by herself?"asked Mary Lee.
"I am sure I don't know. I verily believe that is what she has done,the minx!" exclaimed Nan. "She asked me whether I would be afraid ofgetting lost in such a big city, and I very innocently told her I wouldtrust a policeman to set me right, so no doubt she has serenely goneoff to follow out my suggestion."
Mrs. Corner looked alarmed. "That child alone in this great city!Almost anything could happen to her."
; "Trust Jack," said Nan. "She will come out of it all right. See if shedoesn't."
And true enough they had not sat down to the table before Jack appearedjubilant. She had found her way to Hyde Park, had been greatlyentertained by watching the people, and had been piloted home by aseries of bobbies who proved very acceptable company. "One of them hasa little girl just my age though she's 'arf an 'ead taller, he toldme," Jack informed her family, "and she knows this part of London likea book."
"Jack," said her mother, "if you are going to keep on doing things ofthis kind I shall not have an easy moment. Some dreadful thing mighthave happened to you. Have you forgotten what I told you when you wentoff with the _cocher_ in Paris?"
"No, I didn't forget, but that was Paris, and you never said I mustn'tgo here where every one speaks English. I sat quite still after I gotto the park," Jack went on in an injured tone. "I didn't run about abit, and there were bobbies with me all the way back."
"Nevertheless, I cannot allow you to rush off by yourself. You haveoften been told that you must never go without some older person."
"The bobbies were much older," argued Jack plaintively. "I did rememberthat you had said that, mother, and I didn't ask any children, only thebobbies."
"Jack, you are perfectly incorrigible," returned her mother. "Pleaseto remember that hereafter, in whatever place we may be, that you mustalways come to me to ask permission before going anywhere at all. Ifyou disobey this order I shall have to send you to a school where theywill be very strict with you."
Jack sighed and looked much aggrieved. As usual her point of viewseemed a very reasonable one to her, and she could not understand whyshe should be dealt with so hardly when her intentions had been good.
She kept very close to the party the next day, however, and laggedbehind only once. Nan ran back to see her standing gazing curiously atone of the Beef-eaters, stationed at the point from which they had justmade their exit. "Do come on, Jack," said Nan. "What are you loiteringhere for?"
"I wish you all wouldn't be in such a hurry, Nan," said Jack. "I wasjust going to ask the Beef-eater whether he liked beefsteak or roastbeef best, and whether he eats anything but beef."
"You are such a goose, Jack," laughed Nan, and hurried her littlesister along to where the others were waiting to go to the White Tower.
"Now that we have seen the place where so many sad scenes in Englishhistory took place, I think it would be an excellent plan for us all tolunch at Crosby Hall," said Miss Helen as they came away from the Tower.
"What is Crosby Hall?" asked Jo.
"It is a famous old building which, I am sorry to say, they threaten topull down, so this will probably be our last chance of seeing it," MissHelen answered. "It was built in 1466."
"Before America was discovered," ejaculated Jo.
"Yes, and it was considered the finest house in London at that time. Itwas once occupied by the Duke of Gloucester before he became RichardIII, and no doubt he hatched many of his plots under its roof; it wasvery convenient to the Tower, you will see."
"Where is it?" Nan asked.
"On Threadneedle Street or Bishopsgate within, I am not quite surewhich, but we shall soon see."
"What dear quaint names," said Nan. "I love these funny old streets."
"Tell us some more about Crosby Hall, Aunt Helen," said Mary Lee.
"It has had a variety of experiences," Miss Helen went on. "For afterbeing a private residence it became a prison, then it was turned into ameeting-house, later into a warehouse, next into a concert hall. Now itis a restaurant and a very good one. I think you all will enjoy a mealin the hall where Shakespeare was sometimes a guest. He mentions theplace in his Richard III."
"It is an awfully nice surprise to spring on us, Miss Helen," said Jo."I think it will be great to go there."
"What are we going to have for lunch?" asked Jean. And every onelaughed.
"I think for one thing we must have some chops, such as one can getonly in England," her aunt told her. "There is a fine grill at CrosbyHall where they cook a chop to perfection. While they are doingthe chops we can look around, and you will find yourself in a veryinteresting place."
"I should think it was interesting," said Nan later. "Dear me, I feelso queer to be sitting here where Shakespeare dined and where RichardIII ordered his chops."
"Are you trying to make a pun?" asked Jo.
"No. Why, may I ask?"
"You surely remember the conundrum about a cold chop and a hot steak."
Nan smiled, but immediately looked grave. "We are entirely too near theTower to make ghastly puns," she said. "Poor dear 'Lady Jane Grey,' andpoor dear little princes. I wonder if that wicked old uncle plannedthat horror within these walls."
"One can imagine almost anything," said Mrs. Corner, "but I think wewould better not try to imagine too much, for here come the chops, andthey are solid facts indeed. Look at the size of them."
"What a number of nice-looking Englishmen are here taking their lunch,"Nan remarked to Jo. "See their mugs of ale. Doesn't it make you thinkof Dickens and Thackeray and all those? I'd like mighty well to stay inLondon long enough to prowl around all those old Dickens places. I'dlike to see the Charterhouse, and the prison where Little Dorrit was,and oh, dear me, London is too big to be seen in a hurry. Why can't westay here instead of going to Germany so soon?"
"You forget about that summer when we have promised ourselves to comeback. London will keep, Nan," her aunt reminded her.
They lingered over their meal, content with their surroundings tillMiss Helen mentioned that if they started at once there would be timeto see the old church of St. Helen's, adjoining, before they should goto St. Paul's.
"You're a saint, isn't she, Aunt Helen?" said Jean. "Of course we oughtto go."
"We'll not go for that reason particularly," her aunt returned, "butbecause Shakespeare was a parishioner of the church when he lived inLondon, and because it is a quaint little place in the very heart ofwhat Londoners call 'The City.' This is one of the most interestingsections of London, and scores of famous names are connected withit. If we had time we could see the church of 'St. Botolph withoutBishopsgate' where John Keats was baptized, and could go to LeadenhallStreet to see the old House of the East India Company, where CharlesLamb was a clerk for so many years. Alexander Pope was born not veryfar from here, and Samuel Pepys is buried in the church of St. Olaves.Then, too, the old Huguenot church used to be on Threadneedle Street,and many a poor emigre was given a helping hand by the little body ofFrench Protestants who used to gather there."
"Oh, yes, that dear pastor of the French church at Canterbury told usabout it," said Mary Lee.
"The new French Protestant church is at Soho Square," remarked Mrs.Corner, "though I am told the old Dutch Protestant church is still inAustin Friars, and that the congregation refuse to part with theirproperty valuable as it is."
"I'd love to go there," said Mary Lee.
"We can't, we simply can't," cried Miss Helen. "We shall have to giveup referring to interesting places or we shall become unhappy becausewe haven't time to give to all. That summer to come we will do nothingbut wander around London, and after we have seen it all if there is anytime left we will give it all to England."
"Oh, dear, but I shall not be here," sighed Jo.
"Who can tell?" said Miss Helen cheerfully. "One never knows what willhappen."
"That is true," returned Jo brightening.
"If any one had told us that day we met Daniella Boggs on the mountainthat she would one day go to boarding-school with us, and that shewould be ten times better off than we were then, I am sure we wouldhave laughed them to scorn," said Mary Lee. "So, Miss Jo, don't you sayyou will not be here, for maybe you will."
"It is nice to think there can even come a maybe," said Jo, "and indeedwe could go further, and continue the Daniella story by saying thatif any one had foreseen that one Jo Keyes would be over here becauseof a prize given by Daniella's uncle you all would have laughed morescornfully than
before."
After St. Helen's came St. Paul's, the Whispering Gallery, the cryptand the many parts that all visitors must see. Then there was anotherride home on the top of an omnibus, this time Jack being the one whosecured a seat by the driver, and if he did not earn his threepence inanswering questions, it was not Jack's fault.
The following day all but Miss Helen and Nan set out for the Zoo. Thelatter had a quiet day browsing around the galleries, and enjoying oneof the times the two delighted in. There was always a peculiar bond ofintimacy between them. No one understood Nan as well as her Aunt Helenand there was no one to whom she more readily showed her inner self.Since Miss Helen was Nan's godmother as well as her aunt, Nan had afeeling of proprietorship which she claimed whenever occasions likethis offered. She had a fine time spending some of her prize money onphotographs, having Miss Helen's undivided attention when they came toselect.
"You see," said Nan, "when all the others are along, there is no use intrying to do anything like this, and I do want to think calmly, for tome it is a very important question, whatever it may be to the others.I must have those two Browning portraits, Aunt Helen, for they wereLondoners before they became Florentines."
"I should certainly get those," Miss Helen approved the choice.
"And Dickens and Thackeray."
"Without doubt."
"And would you get Wordsworth and Rossetti here or trust to findingcopies at Grasmere?"
"I think I would take them while you are sure of getting just what youwant."
"Who else? Keats, of course, and, oh, dear, it is going to be harderthan I thought."
"Wouldn't it be a better plan to select what you're sure you wantto-day and come again after you have made a list?"
"Oh, but can we find time to come again?"
"We'll make time, even if we have to stay a day longer to do it."
"Bless you, my bestest aunt." They pored over the photographs for ahalf hour longer and then Nan declared she was satisfied for that day,and they went off, Nan carrying her precious package and feeling veryrich in her new possessions.
The British Museum occupied the greater part of the following day,which was ended up in Kensington Gardens, and then came a trip toWindsor Castle which included a further journey to Stoke Poges where,if Jack did not see her moping owl, Nan found a charming littlephotograph of the old churchyard, and on the way home bought a prettycopy of the Elegy in which to put it. There was a second visit tothe National Portrait Gallery, taken one day when the rest were outshopping, and this time Nan completed her purchase of all photographsshe intended to buy in London, and spent so much time poring over hercollection that she was in danger of not getting her trunk packed intime the next day when they made their start for Oxford.
"I feel very much as if I had been faring on guide-books," said Nan,as they settled themselves in the train. "And as for Aunt Helen, Iknow she feels like one. If she had a red cover I would take her for aBaedeker."
"I am sure Jean knows every item on the list at the pastry cook's, andMary Lee dreamed last night that she was a monkey and began climbingover me," said Jo.
"Now, Jo," began Mary Lee.
"Well, didn't you?"
"I had a sort of funny dream about monkeys," Mary Lee admitted.
"As for Jack," Jo went on, "I defy any 'bus driver in London to keepup with her questions."
"I know where you come," cried Nan. "You would have turned into a mummyif you had gone to the British Museum once more."
"She is anything but one now," said Miss Helen, looking at Jo's plumpfigure and saucy nose.
"As for me," put in Mrs. Corner, "I feel as if I had met many oldfriends from whom I am now parting with regret."
The train started and soon the smoke of London was but a gray cloud inthe distance.
CHAPTER IX
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The Four Corners Abroad Page 8
